In today’s day and age we
find great advances in technology. These advances like internet, laptops and
smartphones. These types of technologies were not available, like it is now,
when I was in grade 1. The only technology type we had was, television. After
2000 more and more technology types were refined up until the latest technology
we have today. Yet this development, of technology, is not ending, but it
changes on a daily basis. Smartphones for one is affordable to the man in the
street.
This is where I come in
with the problem we have with the question: How can we integrate the latest
technology, like smartphones, into the current education system? Will this have
any success in how the students will progress? Will it make students more
interested in the learning process?
In this I will look at
how, I think, technology can be integrated into the. education system. The
specific type of technology I will look at is Facebook
Facebook, like we all
know, is a social networking site on which youngsters spend way too much time
and energy. It’s a website where
they play online games, to do online
chatting, including video chatting with the added skype feature. Facebook has
become an all in one site for the youth and other individuals of all ages to stay
up to date with family and friends, the latest trends, the latest celebrity
gossip and any new activist movements hitting the globe or a local region. Teenagers
spend hours on Facebook even during school time. We as teachers and future
teachers have to find a method to use this social networking medium, which they
enjoy being on, as a way to communicate with them and utilize its technology to
get the students interested and more interested in their learning process. This
can be achieved, according to me, by creating closed groups on Facebook. This
in my mind will make communication between the teacher and students easier.
Facebook has a group
function which allow users to create groups. This groups can have different
settings, such as being an open group or a private group. An open group would
allow anyone who comes across the group to join it. Thus we, as teachers, would
only want communicate with the learners for educational purposes and thus a
private group would be preferred. In this way only the learners of a specific
class are allowed to join the group.
With the group
established on Facebook, free of charge, we can begin to explore the
possibilities of them (the students) becoming actively involved in their
learning process. Firstly we, the administrator “teacher in charge” would speak
to the class and tell the learners to search for the group example: “ HPSGR5”.
That would be the grade 5 class from Hartenbos Primary School. Once everyone has
joined the group we can communicate to the learners what the group will be used
for:
·
It will serve as communication medium
outside the classroom
·
Can be used as an aid for learners to get
help from other learners
·
Will serve as a reminder medium, of
homework, upcoming test, excursions etc
·
Can serve as an exercise, assignment
medium where the teacher can upload exercises and assignments that the learners
have to do at home.
·
Student will get a mark based on their
participation in this group
Those are only to mention
a few of the uses a private Facebook group could be used for in the context of
education. This group would be private thus the teacher would be in complete
control of who joins the group, he / she would only allow the learners of her
class who the group is intended for to join and perhaps the head of department
and parents, which of cause would be at the discretion of the teacher.
In terms of financial
implications for the parents it would be cost effective data wise because
Facebook has released a “lite” version of the Facebook app for phones, this app
uses less data then the usual Facebook app which means it cost the parents less
in terms of purchasing data / airtime.
This has an upside as the
learners would be receiving part of their school work on a social networking
medium which they enjoy spending time on. The goal would be that they see this
as just more social time which they enjoy, in which they would be engaging with
their schoolwork.
In the final analysis I
would like to emphasis that Facebook is only one of the many social media that
students engulf themselves in. Similar things, if not more, can be done on
applications like Twitter, WhatsApp, and many more. This is the age of a great
technology advancement. Let’s use this to the teacher’s advantage of educating
our students in a way which they will enjoy and thus getting the optimal
benefit from their educational journey.
